Hello, everyone.

Sorry we
haven’t kept in touch.  You
are probably thinking we died and went to snowbird heaven.  Well, not quite . . .

We intended
to do a holiday letter, but the holidays kept passing us by – Christmas,
New Years, MJK Day, Valentine’s Day, President’s Day, and Leap
Day.  Maybe we’ll get this out
by St. Pat’s Day.

Our move
here in November was stressful (didn’t know how much stuff we had –
and that was after getting rid of a lot!) but successful, even though I lost a
few things (who knows, they may be around here somewhere).  We unpacked everything except our art
work within a week of arriving.  We
even did a bit of decorating for Christmas and had the neighbors over for wine
and snacks on Christmas Day afternoon – on the patio – lovely.  (But they warned us we likely
wouldn’t be wearing shorts on Christmas Day next year.  We’ll think it’s too cold.)

December
and January brought cold and rain
(but not cold as Minnesota
cold).  We needed the rain.  Now the desert is starting to bloom and
it’s beautiful – best in years, according to locals.

Last month
we had a decorator help us hang our art and rearrange
some furniture.  The place really
feels like home.  (Now, if I could
only sort out my office.)   We’ve added to our landscaping –
tiled the patio, put in lights (very popular here to light one’s trees),
and replaced and added several plants/trees.  We’d lost a few in last
year’s freeze, so we were probably out of compliance with the HOA rules.

We’ve
gotten involved in some of the activities here – golf, bingo, Cellar
Dwellers (a wine tasting group).  That
has helped us meet a lot of our fellow residents.  We try to exercise every day –
though that goal has not been reached.
We do keep busy – I wonder where all the time goes.  We’ve been to a few art festivals
(there seems to be at least one every weekend).  Last Friday we went to the Phoenix Art Museum
and saw an exhibition of Matisse, Monet, etc. and the illuminated scriptures
exhibit (from St. John’s
Abbey).

Our house
in Bloomington
was purchased by a nice young couple (with two children) from Savage.  We closed on February 29.  It’s good to have that taken care
of.  We were in town for the closing
and were able to see a few friends, but just didn’t have time to connect
with everyone.  Maybe we can visit
again this summer.

Our sad
news is that our sister-in-law died a few weeks ago, after battling leukemia,
kidney disease, and other maladies for ten years.  She was unbelievably positive throughout
her ordeal.  We will miss her.

In a couple
of weeks we’re heading to Mission Hills for the Dinah Shore LPGA
tournament – one of the women’s majors.  We went two years ago and loved it.  It’s one of the best run
tournaments we’ve attended.
It’ll be fun to get away for a “vacation.”

This often
seems like a vacation, but really isn’t.  I’m still doing some work remotely
and John is doing some consulting, and until that is done, we won’t feel
as if we’re truly retired.  In
the meantime, we love living in Arizona.

Best to
all,

Deanne and
John